KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Johor is set to press ahead with a contentious bid to raise the price of raw water to Singapore for the first time in over half a century, now that the legal hurdles have been removed.

Datuk Hasni Mohamad, the chairman of Johor’s Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee, said the Attorney-General’s Chambers had last month cleared the path for the review, following a study that was started last August on the supply deal.

“The A-G’s Chambers met a Johor legal advisory team in Kuala Lumpur in early January and told them that we have the right to review the rate. With the green light, it is just a matter of time before we come up with the new rate,” he was quoted as saying by local daily New Straits Times (NST).

Citing the Malaysia-Singapore Agreement 1961 and 1962, NST said Johor sells raw water to Singapore at three sen per 1,000 gallons, but buys back treated water at 50 sen per 1,000 gallons.

Johor is now expected to ask for 60 sen per 1,000 gallons of raw water, the newspaper added.

Singapore buys 250 million litres of raw water from Johor daily, with the state buying back about 16 million gallons of treated water.

Expecting Singapore to impose a commensurate increase if Johor succeeds in reviewing its supply price, Hasni said the state was now preparing to wean itself of treated water from the republic.

Johor will kick off its “zero water dependency” programme by June to boost the capacity of the state’s water treatment plants and increase its pipe network.

“We hope to accomplish the programme within a year, which is by June next year. Once we have accomplished the programme, Johor will be self-sufficient and does not have to buy treated water from Singapore,” he said.

Last September, Johor said it was studying its agreements to supply water to Singapore, Malacca and Syarikat Air Johor in a bid to boost the state’s revenues.

The water deal has long been a source of disagreement between Malaysia and Singapore, with the former pressing for higher prices for its water supply.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a vocal supporter for the a review of the supply deal, insisting that Malaysia was being “shortchanged” by charging Singapore what he called a “ridiculous” price of 3 sen per 1,000 gallons of raw water.

The 1961 agreement inked between both countries have expired in 2011, while the 1962 agreement with the old rate will continue to take effect until 2061.

Singapore has moved to boost its own water supply, spending hundreds of millions of Singaporean dollars annually since 2006 on new technologies for its water industry, the Bloomberg Businessweek reported in July 2012.

Singapore’s water utility chief Chew Men Leong then said that 40 per cent of the 380 million gallon of its required daily water supply came from its desalination and recycling plants, while a dam contributed 10 per cent, with its own reservoirs and Malaysia’s water contributing the remaining 50 per cent.